Family Roots Run Deep at Louisiana Century Farm, Produce Ridge

RFD NEWS Correspondent Tammi Arender takes us to Produce Ridge, where we meet Louisiana farmer Charles Holley as he continues a family legacy over 100 years old, and teaches his grandchildren the value of working the land.

WEST CARROLL PARISH, LOUISIANA (RFD NEWS) — For the Holley Family, farming is more than a job. It is a family legacy that runs more than a century deep.

Charles Holley of Produce Ridge has a deep connection to his land. He grew up on the farm and learned to cultivate the land from his parents.

“I guess it’s in my blood,” Holley says. “I grew up on this place. We had 2,000 peach trees. Dad did cotton. It became a part of my life.”

In his interview with RFD News Correspondent Tammi Arender, Holley explains that it goes beyond what is grown in the fields and is more about passing down the property to his family. Today, his grandchildren are being taught hands-on lessons not typically offered in a classroom. Right now, they are learning how to plant Ambrosia cantaloupe.

“We’re trying to keep that alive. Continue to grow fruits and vegetables so it doesn’t have to be shipped in from somewhere else.”

Soon, Produce Ridge fields will blossom with peaches, tomatoes, watermelon, broccoli, corn, and even potatoes.

However, the reward is not just in the harvest for Holley and his family. He says that it is in the relationships that grow out of helping the community.

You can learn more about Produce Ridge and upcoming events by visiting the farm’s Facebook page.

Tammi Arrender reporting for RFD NEWS.

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Tammi was raised on a cotton and soybean farm in Tallulah, Louisiana. In 1981, she became a TV news anchor and reporter at KNOE-TV in Monroe, Louisiana. She is also an anchor/reporter for RFD-TV and Rural Radio Channel 147 on Sirius XM at their Nashville news studio, where Tammi currently resides.

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